During the long Bank Holiday weekend the normally peaceful acres of Newnham Park were given over to an invasion of Volkswagen-tinged mayhem as the 2009 Plymouth Volksfest arrived. Thousands of people and countless VWs attended the three-day event with headline acts including Dreadzone, Hazel O’Connor and the Stereo MC’s. Under the expert guidance of live sound tutor and festival veteran Jim Parsons, a team of 25 Deep Blue Sound students provided technical support and crew for the many acts playing on the main stage, an arrangement that is extremely unusual when working with artists of this calibre, in front of live audiences of up to 10,000. Jim Parsons said ‘The students’ experience here and at other events is part of their final year studies, where we’re able to give them some real life experience of working in a live sound production environment. Deep Blue Sound is completely unique among UK teaching establishments in being able to include this type of work experience within their curriculum, and it’s a real advantage for these guys when they go looking for their first jobs’. ...Back to previous page